The sky no longer blinked.
It watched.
Above Graveton, suspended between stars and unwritten space, the Eye of the Archivist hovered — a perfect circle of gold, rotating with unreadable symbols and ancient fonts no longer spoken aloud.
> It didn't speak.
It didn't attack.
It simply read.
And as it read… things began to change.
---
A World Under Review
In the forests beyond Graveton, rivers reversed their flow — realigning to earlier chapters.
In Hollowborn groves, memories flickered. Parents forgot children. Trees dropped leaves covered in lost dialogue.
Vampires woke up weeping, unable to recall who they'd sworn loyalty to — the Hollow? The rebels? Themselves?
> The Archivist was editing reality in real time.
And Jayden, now fused with the Godfragment, felt every change.
Like paper cuts across his soul.
---
Warning in the Ink
Inside the Scriptorium, Jayden sat surrounded by floating pages — pieces of Graveton's core memory being rewritten against their will.
"I can't hold it back," he groaned. "Every story we've anchored… it's slipping."
Seraya stood guard at the door, slicing away stray Inkborne who still crawled from the shadows.
Elira entered, holding a scroll sealed in gold wax.
> "This came through the Mirror Gate. No one delivered it."
Jayden took it and opened it.
Only one word:
> "Submit."
Beneath it, the Archivist's seal — a golden quill piercing a world.
---
Enter the Last Editor
That night, a figure appeared in Jayden's dream — but not a dream.
He sat at a desk, old-fashioned and wood, surrounded by infinite shelves. A quiet ticking sound echoed around them.
The man wore robes of gold-etched ink.
His face was unreadable — literally. Where eyes, nose, and mouth should be, there were only lines of text… blurred out.
> "You've rewritten too much," the figure said calmly.
"This world was never meant to survive its footnotes."
Jayden clenched his fist. "You're the Archivist?"
"No," the man replied. "I'm the Last Editor. The one who submits the final draft before deletion."
Jayden rose. "You're not deleting anything."
The Editor smiled faintly.
> "We shall see."
---
A New Prophecy Found
When Jayden woke, the Eye in the sky was gone — closed.
But in its place, left etched in the stars, was a single stanza.
> "When ink becomes flame,
and the book weeps its blood,
a false god will rise
wearing the skin of the Author."
Elira deciphered it first.
> "He's going to impersonate the one who first wrote the world."
> "He wants to replace the Author."
Seraya whispered, "What if he already did?"
Jayden shook his head. "Then we'll write a better ending."
---
The Refugees of the Lost Chapters
From across the lands, refugees began arriving.
Not humans.
Not vampires.
But people from deleted timelines.
A warrior who remembered a war that never happened.
A librarian who claimed Jayden died in chapter 12.
A girl with wings who said she once was the Godfragment.
Each came carrying stories… and warnings.
> "The Archivist keeps a vault," said one. "Every rewritten soul is stored there, half-erased, screaming silently."
Jayden's blood ran cold.
He looked toward the east.
Toward the Vault of Endings.
And made a vow:
> "I'm going to break it open."
---
Meanwhile — In the Vault
Far away, behind layers of erased time and silent gates, a prison floated between pages.
Inside, they stirred.
The first rewritten.
The broken timelines.
The ones who had been almost saved.
They heard a heartbeat.
Jayden's.
And one whispered through torn lips:
> "He's coming…"
Another smiled with broken teeth.
> "The Author's child remembers."
And in the distance, the Vault doors began to crack.
---
End of Volume One.
> Volume Two: THE UNWRITTEN WAR
Begins next chapter…